


The Deserter

by WhyTheRobin



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe, Espionage, Eventual Smut, F/M, Guilt, Nohr, Post-Betrayal, Romance, Violence, Work In Progress, but there will be smut, eventually, relationship to be determined - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 10:10:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8529022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyTheRobin/pseuds/WhyTheRobin
Summary: Hoshido was well known for it's aversion to bloodshed. However, Corrin never realized it was due to their aptitude for espionage. Within weeks of the campaign, Corrin is sent back to Nohr in order to trade secrets for Hoshido as a double agent. However, the past is irreversible, and things are never as they appear. Paring TBD





	

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is short, but that'll change as the story progresses. Enjoy!

The Deserter

 

 Lit by three withering candles, the room neared occupancy with three individuals. The smell of wet hay and curing vegetables clung to Corrin’s nostrils, itching her nose and throat. She swatted away the smoke and her chair groaned with the movement, the only sound in her temporary quarters. The hand on her forehead felt a headache. Her free hand felt splinters on the desk.

When a stray breeze threatened to extinguish all light, Jakob decided he simply wouldn’t tolerate it, shutting the window with what could be mistaken as a crash. Now behind his liege, Jakob allowed a frown to occupy his features. He didn’t _scowl_ at the pretentious ninja lurking in the shadows, but he did attempt to will the vermin away.

As Corrin’s butler, Jakob had certain duties to uphold. A creed to live by. He was to insure her every need was met before she required it. A new hairpin to hold her curls in place, identical to the last. A closed window on a rainy evening. An unprompted gift when her spirits were low. When Corrin was happy, Jakob ensured her happiness. When she was nervous, he brewed her a cup of tea. Nohrian. Two sugars, no milk.

In the dim, she smoothed out a letter with a sweaty palm. His frown deepened.

Jakob hadn’t made her tea tonight. He hadn’t anticipated the messenger.

With great effort, Jakob ironed out his facial features. Lady Corrin wouldn’t approve of his current glare, regardless of how necessary it felt. He simply couldn’t fathom why she did not simply send to masked retainer away, letter or no. Whatever the letter was, it did not warrant a midnight visit and undue stress.

“Are you certain this was meant for me?” Her voice was hushed when she spoke to Saizo, squaring her shoulders.

The ninja’s footfalls were too silent as he stepped into the dim circle of light. He kept his head tilted down, face masked in shadows. Jakob nearly scoffed at his ridiculous hairdo, birdlike and preposterous. “Lord Ryoma himself instructed me to pass along the message to the Returned Princess.” A beat passed, “that’s you,”

“Then you saw him seal it.” Not a question. Corrin ran her fingers over the stamped seal, a shuriken within a circle. The sigil of Hoshido. Before the war, Corrin had noticed it on the cover of one of Leo’s dog-eared books. She hadn’t had must interest in its contents, simply the pictures. Towers that touched the skies, kimonos that swept across the pages, curved swords that sent electric bolts careening through the air.

Xander took it away when he thought she wasn’t looking.

“I saw him write it,” Saizo stared at the princess as she continued to run her fingers down the parchment. How many minutes had passed since she first read the item? Reread? Checked for a secret code? Gods only knew.

Her fingertips shook when she reached to refold the letter. “If you don’t mind, Saizo, I have a few questions,”

Saizo’s ever-present glare intensified. “I cannot answer them in place of Lord Ryoma,”

“You can’t or you won’t?” Corrin asked.

“Both.”

At this point, Corrin noticed that Jakob was grinding his teeth.

“Then I guess I need to speak with Ryoma. Take us to him?”

She finally managed to look at Saizo, tracing his features in the dim lamplight. Gauging his mood was an unreasonably difficult thing to manage in daylight, let alone privately. His mask concealed any frown he might be wearing—that she _assumed_ he was wearing—and his forehead was already wrinkled from years of drawing his eyebrows together in either focus or irritation. Saizo tracked every movement she made under his gaze, which had only just begun warming to Corrin. His only tell was the brief pulse of a forehead vein, and Corrin only knew about _that_ because Kaze had warned her about it.

Saizo’s stare was purposefully blank.

“The butler stays.”

“That won’t be possible,” Jakob’s smile had a tilt to it when he spoke. Corrin noticed it, frowned.

Jakob frowned as well.

She looked at Jakob, then at the parchment. "I won't be long, Jakob." She stood. “I must ask. Is this some kind of test?”

“If I were here to test your loyalty, you would know,”

A bubble of laughter nearly escaped. It was stopped by the scratch in her throat. “You’re not very comforting, Saizo.”

The floor creaked as she crossed the musty room.

“Of course, Lady Corrin.”

Gooseflesh prickled Corrin’s skin as she threw a cloak across her shoulders, her feet sinking slightly when she stepped into the mud. Though night had claimed the Hoshidan countryside hours ago, their garrison was never truly silent. Across the path, wind chimes called from the garden, and with their sound brought the scent of dampened earth, sage, and hydrangea. When Corrin glanced towards the edge of camp she saw the tavern thrumming like a beating heart as soldiers celebrated their latest victory over Nohr; loudly, and with drink.

“Stay silent and follow,”

He made an immediate left and made long legged strides, not slowing pace even when Corrin struggled to reach his side. Under swaying lantern light, Saizo pulled and pawed at his scarf until it became a hood to cover his hair. The lanterns cast bleak shadows across his face when he turned to look at her, briefly. He seemed annoyed, if the slight narrowing of his eye was any indication.

Corrin held her cloak tighter to her chest and ducked her head, not that it mattered. Her hair was far too recognizable to be anyone else’s, cape or no. So why sneak on through camp? Corrin would ask if she could catch her breath, but Saizo seemed to have decided to go for a midnight sprint.

Maybe that was the point.

The rod shop was still busy with customers when they passed it, warm light casting elongated shadows on the pavement. She wondered who could be operating the shop at this time of night, dealing with drunkards looking for a preemptive hangover cure. A soldier stumbled out of the tent with an elixir cradled tightly to their chest, dancing to their own slurred music.

Their camp was an odd sight to behold as they ran through it. Normally Hoshidans preferred to sleep in the countryside during their tours. It was far more affordable to remain in a cow pasture rather than the city limits. Far easier to lay camp. Not to mention it avoided any possible temptations cities offered to lonely soldiers.

Yet both Ryoma and Yukimura had insisted on this location for miles now, pointing out the red dot on the map as a _rendezvous_ point. It was a city on the very outskirts of Hoshido, where the soil was not as fertile and the climate not as forgiving. Their main exports were beans and wild game. Culturally Nohrian, yet loyal to Hoshido. Those were the words Yukimura used.

Takumi used far less forgiving words.

Royals were given scattered outposts to sleep in, while foot soldiers slept around the city walls. Instead, they migrated into brothels just as the sun set behind the horizon. Ladies had leaned out their windows and bellowed things that made her green haired retainer blush as they passed. Jakob either hadn’t noticed, or hadn’t cared.

And then she received the letter.

They ran through a puddle and Corrin blamed the water for the sudden shiver.

“Do you understand any of this?” Corrin huffed when she was within hearing distance. Saizo was quick, quick and soundless. But Corrin was quick and chatty.

Saizo threw her an incredulous look over his shoulder. “What did I just tell you?”

“I know, I know, shut up and run.” She frowned. “But you must’ve read the letter, you must be feeling a little bit…apprehensive,”

“I did not read the letter. That letter was intended for you alone,” Saizo made a sharp turn and began to sprint down a twisting alleyway, too narrow to run side by side in. Corrin kept as his heels, avoiding the tail ends of his scarf. “Ryoma’s orders.”

“But you know the mission.”

“I’m informed.”

“Good.” She actually wasn’t sure if it was good at all. “It’s good you know. I didn’t want it to be a sudden surprise to you, because I know how well you’d take it,”

There was an opened window to their right, and Saizo ducked below it. Corrin tried to shimmy her way around the light. In the process she found herself struggling to keep up as he made another right.

“I know my role. You should accept yours.”

Her face pinched. “Maybe if I got some answers, I would. Maybe if you didn’t avoid me like the plague, we could actually have a discussion and I wouldn’t be chasing you around.”

“Don’t raise your voice,”

Corrin looked up to the heavens for some form of guidance. Her feet were beginning to numb, running barefoot against the cool pavement did that to a person. “I wouldn’t condemn you if you divulged a little bit of information. I just want to talk about this, comrade to comrade. As equals,”

Saizo began to slow, and Corrin followed. The mouth of a street was quickly coming into view, lantern lit and sparkling.

Mikoto’s shrine was illuminated by hundreds of tea candles, flickering around her stone likeness like a thousand of fireflies wishing her well. One arm reached forward as if she were beckoning for a hand to hold, while her right arm clutched her shield delicately as if it weren’t a tool of war. Her soft smile had been etched into her features precisely, as if she was merely frozen in a moment time. One second she had been reaching out and the next sealed into stone.  Ryoma and her siblings had commissioned the piece mere hours after her death, fueled by grief and longing. It had turned out to be a beautiful thing.

Wisps of incense rose from her feet from where Ryoma had lit them.

Had Corrin been a painter she would have liked this scene. Instead, her hands were clammy as she held them.

Saizo was the first to move, dropping to a knee and lowering his gaze. “Lord Ryoma,” Saizo drew his scarf away from his face and let it fall against his neck.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, brother. I didn’t know you were…here,”

Perhaps she should be paying her respects to her mother.

Ryoma was tall, nearly tall enough to overshadow the shrine, when he stood. “No need to apologize. I’ve been sitting here for too long,” there was a clink as he adjusted his famed sword around his waist, “it’s about time I joined the world of the living.”

Her brother still adorned in his armor, though their battle had ended hours ago. Bandits had been pushed out of the city, and none of them had left so much as a scratch on the crown prince. He turned to face her, and Corrin saw his worry. She saw the flicker of a smile, too. “I thought you might have questions.”

Perhaps this was some kind of test of loyalty. Corrin scanned her brother’s face for any sort of tell. A glimmer of falsehood. A facial tick.

“Do you want me to leave Hoshido?”

She felt herself wilt a little. Of course she would just blurt something obnoxious like that immediately, at their mother’s shrine of all places. She smoothed out her robes and ignored the redness that blotched her face, trying to regain her composure.

He folded his hands and met her eyes. “Hoshido has always been your true home, and it always _will_ be. I am not banishing you, nor am I forsaking you. Nohr disagrees with this truth.”

Her voice was low when she began, “That’s not true, I was very clear when I chose—”

“Now they believe that you are being held captive here.” Ryoma continued, and Corrin’s eyebrows drew together. Ryoma nodded. “They think that we coerced you and you are now our prisoner. They cannot see past their pride and imagine why any royal would chose to leave them. This mission would exploit this idea, give Hoshido an advantage, and could end the war prematurely.”

She tilted her chin to the ground, felt her toes tingle against the smoothed pavement. Dirt caked her feet.

Ryoma sighed. Truthfully, he was also apprehensive about this mission. Considering that Corrin had returned to Hoshido mere weeks ago, he couldn’t help but feel like he was throwing her back into the viper pit. If there were any different candidates, Ryoma would have chosen them. However, no matter how many times he looked over the roster, there were no other options.

Scarlet had been raised in Nohr, but her resignation from court had been loud and bloody. Jakob would have been a perfect candidate, but the royal family knew his attachment to Corrin outweighed his patriotism. Kagero was a trained spy, yet she was easily identifiable thanks to lingering Mokushu loyalists.

“Corrin, you were once a princess of Nohr, and understand Nohrians better than I ever will. There is simply no one else who can infiltrate Nohrian ranks like you can.”

The sudden flash of her elder brother’s—no, Xander’s—face crossed her vision. The way it contorted—lips curled, eyes sharp—as he howled _traitor_. His lips curled, eyes sharp. _Your betrayal will never be forgiven._

And then he drew his sword.

Her eyes snapped open, chest pounding. “They may not take me back, Ryoma.”

“They will,” said Saizo.

“They will,” Ryoma repeated, certain. “Our reports indicate that they do not think you sided with Hoshido willingly. The Nohrians will accept you, eventually.”

Corrin drew her eyebrows together. She couldn’t help the spiteful little laugh. “Eventually.”

Corrin was going back to Nohr.

Corrin was to behave as if she had been held captive by Hoshidans and return to the arms of the royal family.

She was to find their secrets, using whatever means she felt necessary, but remaining inconspicuous to the siblings. She was to befriend not only to her ‘siblings’, but every member of the army she could possibly befriend. Anyone of note.

Once she found enough information, she was to return to Hoshido.

Armed with information and battle tactics, Hoshido would strike and end the war.

Those were the main mission guidelines.

But these guidelines were all pinned on the vague notion of _eventually._

“…But you’re certain this will end the war?”

Ryoma’s eyes softened, and he gestured to the statue behind him. “This will keep families together, Corrin.”

_But not ours._

She looked away, stared at the candles as a breeze pushed them.

“Hoshido will not invade so long as you are within Nohrian lands and Saizo reports your safety. We won’t risk endangering your position. A vanguard will remain in this city, but otherwise we be on the defensive until the two of you are finished.”

Corrin lifted eyes from the ground and find’s Saizo refusing to look at her. “The two of us?”

“Saizo will accompany you to the border and act as your messenger.” Ryoma said, smoothing the wrinkles from his forehead.

Her nails dug into her palms. “Saizo is already your retainer, he couldn’t possibly run between Hoshido and Nohr every few weeks. Brother, why not Kaze? He’s a capable warrior. He already knows the way to Nohr, and he’s been to the capital city before.”

“And he was captured the last time he entered Nohr.” Saizo all but growled, single eye deigning to look at her. “If he were to be found in the capital again, he would be executed.”

Ryoma sighed, reached and pinched out an incense flame. “Saizo will not act as my retainer so long as this mission continues. He, too, is a gifted warrior, and already possesses the required training in subterfuge much like Kaze. He will disguise himself as a citizen of Nohr, completely separate from the royal family. You will gather battle plans, he will gather intelligence regarding city defenses. You both will gather information, and when you both have collected enough he will escort you home.”

_Home._

She had only just arrived _home_ , her true home with her true family.

Her whole body now was cold, no matter how tightly she wrapped her cloak around her. “And Jakob?”

“The less people that know of the mission, the better.” Saizo’s tone was crisp, and Corrin wanted to grind her teeth.

“And just how many people will know about the mission?”

Her brother’s armor clinked as he adjusted. “The three of us and Yukimara.”

Red eyes found the ground again and saw it was cold and wet, the soles of her feet were undoubtedly filthy.

“So everyone will think I’m a traitor,” she cleared her throat, “and they’ll turn against me.”

Corrin chewed her lip when she was met with silence. A little laugh escaped her. “Doesn’t seem like a very good idea, does it?”

“It will prevent needless bloodshed. This war has already spilled needless bloodshed. If we can pacify Nohr _and_ have two informants we can prevent the suffering of innocent people.”

Those were the words that made Corrin’s eyebrows curtain. “That won’t…stop this war,”

“But it will calm the Nohrians.” Ryoma inclined his chin. “With the Nohrians calm, we can prepare a fatal strike to their castle

“They won’t trust me,” she repeated, “they certainly _won’t_ let me near the castle,”

“You will make them trust you,” Ryoma met Corrin’s eyes, studying them for a moment. Corrin examined her brother’s face for an ounce of dishonesty. She found nothing. “They want you back in Nohr.”

Deep inside, Corrin knew this was true. She wounded them, and they had struck her back. Like a snake in a corner. Her hands clenched into fists, “It will save lives,”

Suddenly, Corrin knew this wasn’t an optional mission.

“I’ll do it.”

Ryoma’s eyes finally betrayed an emotion Corrin never saw him wear. She couldn’t determine exactly what it was. “If it ever gets too much, Saizo will escort you back to Hoshido without any questions.”

“I understand.”

“You will leave immediately.”

“I understand.”

“You will make for the western border and take the back roads until you reach one of your siblings. You must avoid both armies, understood? Only speak with your siblings.”

“I understand.”

“Good.” His lips pressed into a fine line. He turned, “Saizo will tell you the rest on your journey.”

Saizo dropped to a knee before her brother. “On my honor, I will serve the Hoshidan crown.”

Both of them turned to her.

“Good luck then, dear sister.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'm not quite sure if I'll continue this story or not, but if I do eventually there will be a vote to determine the relationship.  
> Strap in kiddos this could be a long one!


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